Sacred Words From A Sacred Space

2010 Resolution or Evolution?

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:32:04 +0000

Resolution…

v. The act or process of resolving and the act of analyzing a complex notion into simpler ones.

I may sound naive here, but I was always under the impression that a New Years “resolution” was the act of making goals for the future. After doing a little research into the true definition of this word (gotta love Merriam-Webster), I realized that it is about analyzing the complexity of the year prior and restructuring our internal maps to make way for a more simplified future. Its about allowing ourselves to chunk the big picture into smaller vignettes thus being able to digest what “has been” and allow that to nurture what “will be”.

v. The act of answering.

Maybe a resolution is about answering the question of what truth lies within us. Maybe it is about looking into the mysterious mirror of self and letting go of holding onto the egoic blemishes that we allow to make our daily choices of judgments, fears and prejudices.

v. The progression of a chord from dissonance to consonance.

This is the transition of instability to stability. In music, it is when a sound goes from inharmonious to complete auditory pleasure. I don’t know about you, but for the most part, I can’t hold much of a tune, but on those brief moments when I can, a smile stretches across my face and I feel like a rockstar! Wouldn’t it be great to create consonance in every aspect of our lives?

v. The separating of a chemical compound or mixture into its constituents.

Not that I want to give anyone a lesson in organic chemistry (for that matter, I am choosing to forget the class altogether myself), but the one thing most of us can relate to is the idea that things that are whole are the sum of its very own parts. Molecules make up atoms which make up compounds which make up organisms which make up organs which make up organ systems which make us up! If we take this into the emotional realm, we could say that a thought makes up an idea which makes up a concept which makes up a belief which makes up a judgment which makes up a behavior and eventually an outcome. So, if we were to work backwards, we could essentially change our outward expression, behavior or outcome by replacing any internal negative constituent that has come to make up our present day wholeness.

Evolution…

n. A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form.

So, here is the challenge, will you choose to experience the resolution or the evolution of yourself in 2010?

Aerosol…(gasp, choke, ugh)

admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:33:24 +0000

So, I am officially one year older. I turned 37 a few days ago I decided that it would behoove me to make a little reflection on my life and see where I could make some changes to improve my future evolution of mind, body and spirit. It meant that I no longer was able to make any excuses about being too busy and to get myself back to the gym. So, I packed my green kanteen, filled it with water and some Citrus Fresh essential oils and off I went.

Scenario: press play on the ipod which holds your favorite butt shaking tunes, climb aboard the imaginary stairs to nowhere piece of gym equipment, and then stare at the t.v. displaying the misspelled words of the anchor that is ranting on and on about something negative going on in this world. Sounds like fun, huh? It gets better…

As I plug along in my “trance” of stair climbing monotony, I continue to watch the t.v. screen. I see a commercial for Lysol. What stood out in my head and almost made me miss a step, was this big seal of approval that came on reading: “PEDIATRICIANS RECOMMENDED!” Serious?!?!?!

Do Pediatricians really recommend this or any other product that contains carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and a cancer causing agent called orthophenylphenol. A difficult pronunciation I know, but from my college days of studying chemistry I recall that phenols are highly irritating to tissues (they occasionally use phenol derivative synthetic products to embalm bodies and it can burn skin if used topically). Can anyone say CHILDHOOD ASTHMA? How about CHILDHOOD ALLERGIES? I want to know what pediatricians find these aerosol products beneficial!

So, I did a little research when I returned home because my head was reeling with interest as to why this was such a great product and found something really disturbing…ladies, how about douching or spraying yourself with Lysol to disinfect or keep yourself smelling “fresh” (today the advertisement would probably say something like “smell like a tahitian vanilla bean”) ? Well, I don’t think women in 1948 or those of us in 2009 even know what the real smell of vanilla beans are let alone those that come from Tahiti! Was there an ad that shouted “OB/GYN RECOMMENDED” back in the days of June Cleaver? Ah, but I leave you with this wonderful ad…

So much for going to the gym…alright, maybe I will just position myself on a piece of equipment in front of a window or better yet, just turn the t.v. OFF. Too much multitasking is taxing.

One.

admin — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:03:37 +0000

I just returned home from my very first annual Young Living convention, which was titled “ONE”. In my own words, I would have summed up the entire experience as ONE VISION. I was surrounded by 4,000 like minded individuals from all parts of the globe in their quest for health and healing. It was inspiring to sit in on lectures by Harvard trained physicians whose goals are to integrate allopathic medicine with essential oils. It was equally moving to listen to the personal story of a woman that found that Frankincense and Ningxia wolfberry has allowed an improved quality of life (after Western medicine had given up) for her 12 year old German Shephard from bone cancer. I spoke to a Pharmacist who after listening to the scientific lecture on the chemistry of essential oils, now understands that pharmacy is the synthetic adulteration and mixture of the chemicals found in plants, herbs, twigs, flowers and resin and has an entirely new perspective. I sat with a woman who is a hairdresser that massages the scalps of her bald cancer survivors with essential oils to promote hair growth and to help boost the self esteem of her clients.

Most of us have no real palpable understanding of plants and their capacity. I heard this story by a botanist… Giraffes are herbivores (that which feeds on plants for food). They happen to love and need the nutrients from the Acacia leaf. The tree is happy to share itself with the giraffe however after about 20 minutes of giving itself to sustain the life force of its long necked friend, it releases tannins into its leaves and causes the lips and tongue of the giraffe to go slightly tingly. Why? For self preservation! If the tree loses too many leaves, it will not survive! Not only does it release these tannins for itself but it scents the air with its essential oil to alert neighboring trees to do the same! How amazingly “smart” is nature?

I re-tell this story in hopes that 1. can we identify what our Acacia tree is? 2. can we become more inquisitive about the power of nature and her medicine? 3. can we all share in the ONE vision?

4,000 people committed to healing themselves, each other and the world. One. One vision. One journey. One shot.

Young Living and Donna Karan!

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:00:36 +0000

Urban Zen, Donna Karan and Young Living Donna Karan bringing Young Living Essential Oils to hospitals in the New York City area! Her Urban Zen project infuses complimentary and alternative ways of healing from the Eastern medical arts into cancer therapies across Gotham!

A shout out to Acupuncture and Aromatherapy!

Calm in the Chaos

admin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:07:00 +0000

“Every adversity carries with it a seed of greater benefit.” If anyone knows me, they would tell you that this is my daily tag line. I read it for the first time 10 years ago in a book written by Napolean Hill but didn’t really understand it until adversity slapped me in the face, knocked me to the ground and dragged me through the streets of NYC’s financial district on September 11, 2001.

I entered the twisted, internal psycho-emotional world of Dante’s Inferno, otherwise known as Post Traumatic Stress. It wasn’t pleasant to be afraid of the sounds of trucks backfiring, or having panic attacks while sitting on a subway train or contemplating how I might stop my scalp from forming bloody plaques of psoriasis brought on by stress.

I had no idea that the beneficial “seed” of a 5,000 year old origin was taking root in a classroom in the middle of the same great city that imposed on me my biggest adversity. One day before 9/11, I began my official academic quest into the eastern healing art of Oriental Medicine. The words art and medicine are rarely ever found in the same sentence however I learned early on in my career as an eastern practitioner that there is indeed a need for creative interpretation of someone’s symptoms of complexity. The human landscape is complicated, diverse, highly individualized with each of us beings holding our own unique set of blueprints.

It is quite fascinating to learn that Oriental medicine is an intricately woven thread of philosophy, culture, mysticism and empiricism. What appears to be as simple as the insertion of one needle into an appropriate acupuncture point on the skin, it could become the actual compass that points you on the direction of internal balance. When a mind-body and spirit-mind are equilibrated, the dance of life is rhythmically in tune with being healthy and well.

So, I ask you, could you be open to finding the calm in the middle of your chaos? Could you allow yourself to become the architect of your own life by being ok with the scaffolding and infrastructure that you were given? Could you welcome the needle that might in fact direct your very own “true north”?

Lavender Lemonade in the NEWS!

admin — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:05:00 +0000

Summer is here! I just found this…enjoy and lets get cooking and drinking LAVENDER!!!
July 11th, 2009 is Lavender Harvesting time at the Young Living Farm in Utah…anyone up for a 5k run through the Lavender fields?

To order this therapeutic grade Lavender, find the YL link on my website: www.sacredspaceacupuncture.com

The Path…

admin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:26:00 +0000

The theory of Oriental Medicine goes like this…you and I were created through the intricate weaving of the threads of our Ancestral Essence. In our mothers belly we relied on the perfection of what is called the “Extraordinary vessels” to guide our way through nine months of incubation. These “vessels” transport energetic information to us during our time of growth and development and they are extraordinary because they enforce our flawlessness in body, mind and spirit. The moment of birth releases us from our core support system and with our first breath we begin creating a protective screen to the outside environment while we drift farther away from our state of pure grace.

The shield of armor that we all possess is unique to each of us. It is our energetic thumbprint. It is fueled by the strength of our own personal Qi (vital life force).

We start our journey without mapquest, without street signs, without any language to communicate that we might be lost. We stop to eat and sleep along the way because we somehow know that this is the only way to refuel. We live in the wonderment of the present moment enforced by a circus of sensory delights and we are not aware yet that there is an illusion that waits for us. This illusion is called LIFE.

The paradox is this…the more aware you become of the outside world (fueled by thoughts and emotions) the less connected you remain to your extraordinary self. The illusion plays a funny trick with us by sending us down paths that might have trick doors, funhouse mirrored walls, glass ceilings or floors that seem to be made of squeaky wood.
Every bump, turn, jug-handle, u-turn or dead stop that we make in this journey causes us to lean on those vessels that originally made us perfect. We do have access to the ancient roadmaps of our very own existence however most of us have chosen to drive on the roads of life with blurred vision.

Stop and visually take in your surroundings daily…
Breathe in deeply to open the senses of smell…
Pause after you listen to someone’s words to clear your ears to hear…
Wrap your arms around someone to enliven the touch receptors on the tips of your fingers…
Chew slowly and savor the flavors of prepared nourishment from Mother Earth…

Mineral Oil: OH NO!

admin — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:03:00 +0000

I was thrilled to have been asked to give a lecture to RN’s a few weeks ago about the Efficacy of Essential Oils in the Health Care Model at Fairleigh Dickinson University. I just finished my Certification in Aromatherapy and spent countless hours creating a highly visual and enlightening power point presentation. Unfortunately my 2 hour talk happened right after lunch in a dimly lit room. As any teacher knows, this is the hardest time to keep students interested as they are often going into a carbohydrate slump. Fortunately, I had my Peppermint Essential Oil and passed it around for a sniff every 1/2 hour to help boost alertness!

As I was preparing for this lecture, I found myself sidetracking into reading about the non vegetable and non nut oils that we put on our skin daily and how these are wreaking havoc.

Most people do not understand that our skin is like a sponge. They do not realize that when you apply lotions and use hair products that the chemicals in them seep into the superficial blood stream and then get carried throughout the body and the organs alike.

Here is a good test about skin absorption if you are willing to possibly smell like an Italian Restaurant

Take a few cloves of peeled garlic and place them into a vat of hot water. Soak your feet for 10 minutes in the garlic water. You will notice that 20-30 minutes after your soak, the pores of your skin will begin to emit a garlic odor. That is how fast it takes garlic to make its way through your body! Luckily the chemical constituents of garlic (allium sativum) is excreted in a natural way.

I want to shed some light on Mineral Oil. This is also known as Petroleum jelly (Vaseline) and mineral oil laxatives. It is even more well known as the branded name of BABY OIL. Mineral Oil is a byproduct of the distillation of gasoline from crude oil. It is considered a “left over” liquid and is readily available and very inexpensive. It has been used in the cosmetic industry, personal care and baby products and the baking industry (think additive for glazing in white breads/doughs). I am including a link from the FDA about Mineral Oil http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~rdb/opa-g040.html

Mineral oil DESTROY Vitamin D in the body. This petroleum byproduct interferes with the absorption of Vit D.

Let me explain what Vit D is, just in case you don’t know.

Vit D is actually considered both a vitamin and a HORMONE! It is imperative for normal cell growth and proliferation. It helps to regulate the immune system. It assists in regulating blood levels of calcium and phosphorus from the GI tract (which is why it is important for its role in preventing tooth decay and keeping bones strong). It regulates the function of the thyroid and parathyroid glands!

The best way of getting Vit D into your system is through natural sunshine! 20 minutes of exposure per day is ideal! We have now become a society in fear of the sun. We slather on the sunscreen in fear of Skin Cancer, but we need to keep two things in mind: 1. Is our sunscreen riddled with mineral oils? 2. If we keep ourselves fully blocked from the sun, we are not receiving adequate amounts of Vit D. Now, this is in no way an intent to tell anyone to burn themselves or to lay in the sun for hours without a protectant! It is just me playing the “what if we don’t buy into the commercial machine” game.

My suggestion…instead of using commercial lotions filled with chemicals that we can’t pronounce or eat for that matter, use a vegetable based oil or nut oil to use on the skin to help keep it soft and supple if you are plagued with winter dry skin.
Obviously if you have a nut allergy, keep away from the nut oils! You can replace them with vegetable oils!

I keep a bottle of organic Sweet Almond oil in my bath tub. After showering, with my skin still wet, I put about 1 tablespoon of almond oil into my palms and rub it into my skin. I then pat dry. Almond oil mimics the human sebum and is a very thin oil, so if used correctly, it will absorb into the skin and not cause any staining on clothes. I then add different Essential Oils to the almond oil base depending on my mood that day!

Keep yourself informed! Read the labels in all of your body products for Petrolatum, Petroleum or Mineral Oil.

If you have any questions about this post, please send me an email!

The Power of Essential Oils

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:10:00 +0000

I just returned from the magnificent Greek island of Syros. I was there for 10 days on an expedition to learn about the benefits of medicinal plants. Not only did I experience the plants and flowers in all of their glory, but I was honored to have learned how to harvest and distill them.

Let me tell you about some of the amazing properties of Essential Oils in general:

1. Plants create essential oils to detract insects from itself…(kind of like it’s very own insect repellant!)

2. Plants create EO’s to sometimes decrease the ability of it’s neighboring plants to flourish…so they can have primary access to the water supply and nutrients from the soil (call it survival of the fittest, or greed!)

3. EO’s have a chemical makeup with properties that can incorporate any or all of the following: antifungal (Tea Tree Oil), antiviral (Clove) (yes, antiviral!), anti-inflammatory (Lavender), pro-circulatory (Cypress), antibacterial (Roman Chamomile), expectorant (Eucalyptus globulus), carminitive – stimulates digestion and relieves gas (Anise), analgesic (Wintergreen), diuretic (Juniper Berry), astringent (Frankincense), diaphoretic – induces sweating to eliminate toxins from the body via the skin and to dispel a fever and chills (Ginger), emmenagogue – promotes and regulates menstruation (Clary Sage), sedative (Neroli), wound healing (Calendula).

The most important thing for a consumer to understand is that the majority of EO’s that are distilled are sold to the perfume or food industries where they often become adulterated. The adulteration of these oils is to increase the amount of material so that they can “stretch” the end product thus increasing profits. The typical adulteration method is to add synthetic chemicals to the original EO, which in a nutshell is BAD! We all know and understand (hopefully) that synthetically derived chemicals are just that: SYNTHETIC…meaning NOT from us, but made in a laboratory! Many of these chemicals are carcinogenic (cancer causing) or irritants (to the skin) and wreak havoc on the body. SO, not all smell pure!

While taking a class titled “What smell is that?” we were all subjected to the original plant extracted chemicals and then its synthetic adulterated form. Since we live in an over chemically scented saturated society, I was shocked that I was preferring the synthetic smells over the natural ones. Our olfactory senses (our smell receptors) are accustomed to chemicals! This was very disconcerting!

So, before you go off and buy an essential oil OR a detergent OR a perfume with “oils” make sure of a few things:
1. All EO’s should be labeled with their latin name (e.g…Lavender is Lavendula angustafolia)
2. All EO’s of a single product line should not be priced the same! (e.g…if you are paying $10 for lavender AND $12 for Damascus Rose, you can be sure that there is major adulteration going on! 2 oz of a pure Rose oil could cost you upwards of $150!) The reason for oils to be so expensive is the amount of plant material versus the amount that has been distilled. If there is little amount of distilled oil versus a large amount of starting plant/flower material you can almost guarantee that the price of the oil will be high!
3. “Perfumed” oils are NOT pure.
4. “Organic” oils are not always pure.

I hope this sheds some light on Essential Oils. They are earth’s medicine!

Oded’s Fascia Song

admin — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 04:48:00 +0000

No one really understands what goes into being a teacher unless you become one. There are countless hours that go into preparing for each class. There is the duty to find clarity and simplicity in regards to translating something complex and overwhelming. There is a juxtaposition of having a love of a subject with the passion to express it fully and unadulterated.

I have been teaching Anatomy and Myology at Tri State College of Acupuncture for four years now. I have witnessed countless of “a-ha” moments which makes every teacher proud to watch the coming together and integration of information into logical thought patterns.

With that being said, I was blessed and astounded by a song that was written and sung for me by one of my students (Oded Schneiderman) in the class of 2010 from Tri State College of Acupuncture.

I share it with you here, on my blog, as THE proudest and most gracious teacher!

I titled it: “Oded’s Fascia Song”…an “ode” to my persistent and relentless teachings on the importance of understanding the connective tissue system (a.k.a. fascia), scar tissue and twitch responses from trigger point dry needling.

Enjoy…